perhaps-hereafter-it-will-delight-you-to-remember-this-exhibition

1930-1950, accession number SB4.828 Gift of Jean Van Horne Baber, Class of 1933 Decorative plate by Fotoware, Preston-Hopkinson, Lynchburg, Virginia, with a view of Sweet Briar House, ca

An Introduction to the History of Sweet Briar College

weet Briar’s history museum begins with a gallery informally called the “Pink

Gallery,” or sometimes the “Alumnae Gallery,” in which are displayed artifacts and mementos that offer a glimpse into the College’s 114-year history and illustrate the twin poles of student experience: academics and community The checklist below follows the numbers found above each glass display case Information for each is arranged beginning with the top shelf and each shelf description moves from the back of each case and left to right Unless the donor is known in clear detail, no provenance information is provided

Likewise, no dates or accession numbers are provided unless that information is clearly

known

Displays here have been inspired by the motto written on a “freshman apron” shown in case three:

“Perhaps hereafter it will delight you to remember this…”

S

Case 11 (left)

Top Shelf

Needlepoint of the Sweet Briar seal made by Carla De Creny Levin Freed ’61

Gift of the Alumnae Association, 1971

The College crest was designed by John M McBryde, Jr., in 1905 He was a professor of English here 1906-1909 and was the son of one of the College’s first trustees, John M McBryde, Sr At the time that he was recruited for the Sweet Briar board, McBryde senior was president of Virginia Agricultural and

Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute—today’s Virginia Tech He and his son had recently designed VPI’s crest and seal When the Sweet Briar trustees asked McBryde senior to design its crest and seal, he deferred to his son the English professor.* McBryde’s scheme features elements of Lord Jeffery Amherst’s crest, to acknowledge the school’s connection to Amherst County; elements of the Fletcher family crest for Elijah Fletcher, founder Indiana Fletcher Williams’s schoolteacher father; Tudor roses appropriate to heraldry and suggestive of the Sweet Briar rose from which the property took its name; and the College motto, “Rosam quae meruit ferat” (“She who earns the rose shall bear it”)

Hammered copper bookends with the Sweet Briar seal, ca 1926

Gift of Lynn Prior Harrington, Class of 1958, and Kay Harrington, 2000

A printing block of the Sweet Briar seal, accession number SBM.2013.003

Gift of Terry G Seaks in memory of Jane Lewis Seaks, Class of 1970, 2013

Red leather photo frame with Sweet Briar seal embossed on the front, ca 1930s,

accession number SBM2012.008.7

Gift of Anne Parry Ellice Adam, Class of 1962, in memory of her mother Margaret Ross Ellice, Class of

1934, 2012

Glassware by the Michel-Meier Decorating Company, North Rochester, Pennsylvania, ca 1935-1940 Beginning in 1930s the Alumnae Association sold glassware bearing the College seal to raise money for the Association and the College The sorts of pieces shown here—vase, drinks tumbler, and dessert/parfait cup—were advertised in the alumnae magazine 1935-1940

Middle Shelf

on risers, left to right

1916 ring (amethyst stone), inscribed AGC, accession number SB8.905

1917 ring (blue stone), inscribed HBC, accession number SB8.906

1919 ring (black stone), accession number SB8.907

1913 ring (no stone), inscribed MP; belonged to Mary Pinkerton [Kerr], author of “The Sweet Briar Song”

1913 ring (no stone), inscribed CMG, accession number SB8.904

The first College rings had no stones and featured relief images on the sides of each class symbol: oak tree (1910), lion (1911), swan (1912), and peacock (1913) The Class of 1916 introduced semi-precious colored stones representing each class—green, black, purple, and blue These colors and symbols are shared on a four-year cycle with successive classes

first row front, left to right

1920 ring, accession number SB8.908

1921 ring, inscribed LRR, accession number SB8.909

1922 ring, inscribed JF, accession number SB8.910

1923 ring, inscribed HMM, accession number SB8.911; Gift of Helen McMahon ’23

1924 ring, inscribed YEP, accession number SB8.912

second row back, left to right

1926 ring, inscribed LEP, accession number SB8.914

1928 ring, inscribed GS, accession number SB8.915

1929 ring, accession number SB8.913

1930 ring, accession number SB8.918

1930 ring, inscribed GMW, accession number SB8.917

first angled row, back to front

1932 ring, inscribed MH, accession number SB8.919

1933 ring, inscribed HRR [?], accession number SB8.920

1935 ring (in box), Leticia Rider

1938 ring, Harriet H Rogers, honorary member of the Class of 1938, long-time head of the College’s riding program for whom the present-day riding center is named

second angled row, back to front

1942 ring, Barbara Ripley [Furniss]

1945 ring, Anne MacFarlane [Clark]; Gift of Anne Clark, 2007

1948 ring, Margaret Sheffield [Martin]

1949 ring, Preston Hodges [Hill]

Charm, accession number SB8.950

Locket, ca 1920s, accession number SB8.949

Gift of Katharyn (Kay) Norris Kelley, Class of 1926

Watch fob belonging to Eugenia Griffin [Burnett], Class of 1910, ca 1910s, accession number SB8.937 Sweet Briar Institute pin, ca 1910-1915, accession number SB8.936

Bottom Shelf

Sweet Briar College Refectory china by the Syracuse China Company, Syracuse, New York, 1964-1971 Sweet Briar College Refectory silver-plate flatware engraved “SBC” by the R Wallace Manufacturing Company, Wallingford, Connecticut, ca 1930s

Sweet Briar College Refectory table napkin embroidered “SBC”

Case 11 (right)

Top Shelf

Oil painting of Sweet Briar House by Dorothy Carnine Scott, ca 1930s, accession number SB8.1071 Born in North Dakota in 1903, the artist spent a nomadic childhood in the West Her father was a

Presbyterian minister She graduated from Colorado College in 1924 and earned an MA from the

University of Chicago as well as a BS in library science from Syracuse University She did not begin painting until she and her family settled at Sweet Briar She studied here with artist Elizabeth Hunt Barrett, a

College neighbor The artist’s husband, Ewing C Scott, was a professor of chemistry at Sweet Briar

1927-1944

Watercolor painting of Sweet Briar House by Eloise Hirst [Couper], Academy, ca 1908

Gift of Dr John Lee Couper, son of the artist, 1996

Sweet Briar House has been home to the College’s presidents since 1906 The residence has been on the Virginia Landmarks Register since the 1970s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places The original house was built in the late 18th century by Joseph Crews Originally known as Locust Ridge, the structure was a two-story, six-room farmhouse of red brick In 1830 Elijah Fletcher bought the house and 1,000 acres from Penn family relatives of his wife, Maria Antoinette Crawford, an Amherst County native Called “Sweetbrier” for the abundance of wild roses on the property, it became the summer home for the Fletchers and their four children, Indiana, Elizabeth, Sidney, and Lucien In 1841 the family made it their permanent residence and in 1851-1852 the original T-shaped farmhouse was enlarged with the addition of the tower wings, showing the daughters’ attraction to Italianate architecture they had seen during a grand tour of Europe For the first years of the College it also housed faculty apartments a post office, and an infirmary The first floor also served as the administration building for the College until 1926

Ceramic pitcher decorated with a view of Sweet Briar House, ca 1955-1965, accession number SB4.810 Made by Amherst resident Peter Williams, who worked at the College in the 1950s and 1960s He is credited in some alumnae magazines and booklets about College programs such as Junior Year in France as the publications’ art designer and illustrator

Middle Shelf

Engraved view of Sweet Briar House by Samuel Donovan “Don” Swann (1889-1954), ca 1930s-1954

A Baltimore artist who had studied in Europe, Swann specialized in limited edition prints depicting historic buildings He produced a number of Sweet Briar scenes in addition to this view The Sweet Briar Alumnae Association sold them to raise funds for the College

Vintage postcard titled “Amongst the Box Bushes, Sweet Briar College,” ca 1910-1920s

Vintage postcard of Sweet Briar House, ca 1930s-1940s

Cardboard model of Sweet Briar House, 1955, accession number SB8.1050

This was as a table centerpiece for a Sweet Briar Day reception in Indiana It was constructed by Janet Jaqua Boaz, Class of 1933, and her husband, Burling Boaz (1891-1968), an Indiana artist who designed stained glass and ornamental ironwork and taught at the Herron School of Art

Bottom Shelf

Plate by Royal Cauldon for Jones McDuffie and Straton, Boston, Masschusetts, with a view of Sweet Briar House, ca 1930-1950, accession number SB4.828

Gift of Jean Van Horne Baber, Class of 1933

Decorative plate by Fotoware, Preston-Hopkinson, Lynchburg, Virginia, with a view of Sweet Briar House,

ca 1950s-1960s, accession number SB4.795

Plate by Wedgwood for Jones McDuffie and Straton, Boston, Massachusetts, with a view of Sweet Briar House, ca 1946-1959, accession number SB4.831

Jones McDuffie and Straton specialized in the import and distribution of fine and decorative china By 1910

it was the largest such firm in the United States The company was well-known for its commemorative china depicting scenes at American colleges and universities It ceased production of these in the mid to late 1950s In recent decades the College has contracted with other makers of fine china to create reproductions

of these plates

Case 1

Top Shelf

Vintage photograph of the Sub-Special Basketball Team, accession number SB8.1046

In its early years Sweet Briar accepted “sub-freshmen” or “specials” to a college preparatory curriculum Known as the “Academy,” this ceased operation in the 1910s.This photo first appeared in the 1910 Briar Patch yearbook The students on the team were: Dorothy Bancroft, Isabel Cornwall [Miller], Kathleen Cowgill, Elizabeth Craven [Westcott], Margaret Duvall [Handy], Addie Erwin, Ellen Hayes, C Lucelia McClain [Vanpatten], Ida Ross [Leblanc], Mary C Tabb [George], Emmy Thomas [Thomasson]

Vintage photographs of unidentified Sweet Briar athletes, ca 1910s-1920s,

accession numbers SB8.893 and SB8.897

Decorative horse doll with the monogram “SB” on its rump, ca 1948-1952

Gift of Patricia Beach Thompson, Class of 1952, 2002

Equestrian sports have been a part of the Sweet Briar campus since the school’s beginning Indeed, into the middle 20th century the school kept a fox-hunting pack

Middle Shelf

Vintage photograph of students disembarking at the Monroe, Virginia, train station, 1952

Train ticket and envelope with route map, Norfolk and Western Railroad, Cincinnati, Ohio,

to Sweetbriar [sic], 1931

Receipt for the Pullman Company, Washington, DC, to Sweetbriar [sic], ca 1930s

Train ticket, Southern Railway System, Sweet Briar to Lynchburg, 1958

Gift of John Hyde in honor of his daughter Rose Hyde Fales, Class of 1938

Model of a truck with paper dolls, made by members of the Class of 1924 for their 5th reunion, 1929 The note tied to the truck reads in part, “To Bozie…In loving remembrance of all our shimmie trips to the city of Amherst.” Another tag on the truck identifies the numerous one-time occupants, though only two dolls remain

Vintage postcard of the Sweet Briar train station, 1906

The train station was moved to campus in the 1970s is now located near the Guion Science Building

Bottom Shelf

Vintage photograph of the May Day Court, ca 1910s

Sweet Briar students celebrated May Day with a spring festival featuring a “May Queen” and her court well into the 1960s

Scrapbook and dance card belonging to Ruth Marston [Palmer], Academy, ca 1908

Suede-covered scrapbook with Sweet Briar seal in pink leather belonging to Frances Neville Newberry, Class of 1933, ca 1929-1931

Case 2

Top Shelf

1910 diploma awarded to Frances Murrell [Rickards]

The degree is signed by President Mary K Benedict and President of the Board Alfred Magill Randolph Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, Randolph was one of the four original trustees of Sweet Briar named in Indiana Fletcher Williams’s will Five students graduated in the class of 1910 The

design of the diploma copies that of the University of Vermont, the alma mater of Indiana Fletcher Williams’

father, Elijah Fletcher

Mortarboard belonging to Marion Benedict Rollins, professor of religion 1928-1963,

accession number SB8.888

The First Year Book of Sweet Briar Institute, 1906-1907

This catalog explains the College’s requirements for admission and the curriculum offered

Courtesy of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty

Middle Shelf

Phi Beta Kappa key, accession number SB8.961

This stylized watch key—the globally recognized symbol of America’s oldest honors society, established to recognize outstanding academic achievement at the highest levels of undergraduate study—was awarded to Mary K Benedict when she was a student at Vassar College It was given by President Benedict to Nan Powell Hodges, Class of 1910, when Hodges was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the Theta of Virginia Chapter (Sweet Briar College) at its first induction ceremony, 5 March 1950

Gift of Nan Powell Hodges, Class of 1910

Phi Beta Kappa key, accession number SB8.960

This key belonging to President Meta Glass was awarded to her at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Gift of the Theta of Virginia Chapter (Sweet Briar College), Phi Beta Kappa

Phi Beta Kappa key

This key belonging to Dr Connie Guion, professor of chemistry 1908-1913, was awarded to her at

Wellesley College

Gift of the Theta of Virginia Chapter (Sweet Briar College), Phi Beta Kappa

Vintage photograph of President Mary K Benedict

Benedict’s ambitious vision for the school and rigorous academic standards are widely credited as the key to Sweet Briar’s strong start She served as president 1906-1916 Frustrated by the continuing challenges of recruiting qualified students and raising funds, she left to study medicine at Johns Hopkins She returned to campus on several occasions over the years, notably to mark the school’s 50th anniversary, and kept in touch with her former students

Class of 1910 ring belonging to President Mary K Benedict, an honorary member of the Class of 1910 Bequeathed by President Benedict to Eugenia Griffin Burnett, Class of 1910 Burnett served on the

College’s board of directors 1921-1951

Gift of Eugenia Griffin Burnett, Class of 1910

Small red leather scrapbook belonging to Frances Murrell [Rickards], Class of 1910, ca 1906

Vintage photograph of three unidentified members of the Class of 1910

The women pictured here—“The Big Five”—are presumed to be the five members of the Class of 1910, the College’s first graduates

Necklace in the form of a daisy, gold and seed pearls, accession number SB8.921

This was one of five such necklaces given to the first graduates of Sweet Briar College by

President Mary K Benedict

Gift of Eugenia Griffin Burnett, Class of 1910

Tau Phi club charm belonging to Mary Craighill [Kinyoun], Class of 1925

Tau Phi club pin, affixed to a 1922 May Day ticket

Gift of Jane Becker Clippinger, Class of 1925

Tau Phi club pin belonging to Gertrude Dally [Massie], Class of 1922

A College club started in the 1920s by Professor Elizabeth Czarnomska, Tau Phi recognizes academic achievement among upperclass students It is still in existence

Sigma Xi pin belonging to Elizabeth Franke [Balls], Class of 1913

This national science honor society was “founded in 1886 to honor excellence in scientific investigation and encourage a sense of companionship and cooperation among researchers in all fields of science and engineering.”*

* See www.sigmaxi.org

Bottom Shelf

Examination for French I, 1916

Bill for tuition and fees for Jessie Louise Coburn [Laukhuff], Class of 1933

This bill for the semester ending February 1930 is stamped “paid” on 17 September 1929, a month before the stock market collapse that ushered in the Great Depression

Vintage photograph of three Sweet Briar students sailing for study abroad at St Andrews, 1932

Sweet Briar has a long history of sending students abroad for study Its oldest programs are those in

conjunction with St Andrew’s University, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Junior Year in France, which Sweet Briar has administered since 1948

Case 3

Top Shelf

“Freshman Apron” belonging to Anne Lane Newell [Whatley], Class of 1928, 1924

This bears the owner’s name tag at the top and the poignant inscription, “Perhaps hereafter it will delight you to remember this.” This appears to be a sentimental paraphrase of a famous line from Book One of

Virgil’s Aeneid, “Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuabit.” (“Perhaps it will even please us to remember these

things someday.”) Through the 1930s first year students were expected to wear aprons for the first few weeks of the fall semester as part of their “initiation” into the life of the College and its community For example, the student handbook for 1921-1922 states: “Freshmen shall wear a uniform apron between the hours of 7:30 a.m and 3:00 p.m on all days except holidays…from the beginning of classes to Founder’s Day.” Signed and decorated by friends much like a yearbook, the aprons became cherished mementos

Hand-made advertisement for “Aprons Washed and Ironed,” ca 1910s-1920s

The notation in the lower left corner—“Benefit of the Drive”—refers to the College’s endowment

fundraising efforts, in which students enthusiastically, and inventively, participated

Vintage photograph of seven freshmen students wearing aprons, 1921, accession number SB8.897

Middle Shelf

Felt banner with the initials SBI [Sweet Briar Institute], ca 1914, accession number SB8.877

The banner was made by the Lynchburg Manufacturing Company “Sweet Briar Institute” is the name under which the school was chartered and is still the College’s legal name

Wizard club ring, 1910s [Academy], inscribed GM, accession number SB8.958

Rippler club ring belonging to Professor Connie M Guion, 1913, accession number SB8.935

Dr Guion, was the first chemistry teacher at Sweet Briar Today’s Guion Science Building is named for her She was a moving force behind early theatrics at the College and was the mentor of the school’s first student club—Paint and Patches, devoted to drama Paint and Patches had two sub-groups, the Ripplers and the Merry Jesters, which put on plays throughout the school year

Merry Jester club ring belonging to Leila Dew [Preston], Class of 1915, accession number SB8.925

The Briar Patch yearbook, 1910

This was the first year this annual was published

Decorative baby doll, 1925, accession number SB9.850

Though much faded, the doll still bears its original pink and green color scheme and the letter “SB.”

Bottom Shelf

Reproduction of a cover for the College’s student-run literary magazine, The Brambler This “freshman issue”

for October 1926 shows a cartoon baby “flapper” wearing the tell-tale beads

Selection of “Freshman Beads” made of glass, wood, and Bakelite, ca 1910s-1940s

accession numbers SB3.873, SB3.869, SB3.863, SB3.859

Like “Freshman Aprons,” green-colored beads were worn for decades by first year students to distinguish them from upperclass women The student handbook for 1935-1936, for example, states: “Freshmen are requested to wear the aprons and beads sold to them by the manager of the Briar Patch [the student

yearbook] until Freshmen-Sophomore Day.”

Case 4

Top

Wool blazer, 1957

The building depicted on the insignia is the Refectory, now called the Anne Gary Pannell Center, on the Quad The centrally located Refectory was the center of campus life—dining hall, venue for dances and banquets, location of Step Singing, and the back drop for Commencement exercises and all manner of club photos

Middle Shelf

Quiz for Music 228, 1962

Sweet Briar College Student Handbook belonging to Barbara Falge [Openshaw], Class of 1957, 1955-1956 Gift of Nannette McBurney Crowdus, Class of 1957

1970 ring, Loring Harris [Amass]

Instructions for new initiates to the tap club Paint and Patches, undated, possibly ca 1950s

on the riser

Chung Mung club charm belonging to Cynthia Ann Whitley [Auman], Class of 1978, accession number SB8.929

Chung Mung is a student tap club devoted to fostering school spirit Its members used to dress as ghosts and its symbol is still a ghost

Paint and Patches club charm belonging to Susan Bassett [Finnegan], Class of 1954,

accession number SB8.941

Paint and Patches is the College’s oldest student tap club and is devoted to theater

Bottom Shelf

Felt banner, ca 1920s-1950s

“Bettina Boxwood” doll, ca 1940s, accession number SB8.857

This homemade character was the mascot of a mid-century student magazine, The Brambler, and posed for

countless humorous cover shots

Decorative dachshund doll, ca 1948-1952

Gift of Patricia Beach Thompson, Class of 1952, 2002

Beer stein, inscribed “1961” on the front and “Sam” on the back, ca 1957-1961

Case 5

On mannequin

May Day dress worn by Frances Gilbert [Browne] ’56 when she served as May Day Queen in the spring of

1956 She can be seen wearing this dress in the 1956 Briar Patch yearbook Miss Gilbert was a member of

the student government’s judiciary board, earned dean’s list honors, and was elected to the academic club Tau Phi as well as the national honor society Phi Beta Kappa

Framed

Program for May Day, 1910

May Day incorporated musical and theatrical performances as well as social events such as gala dances, performances by nationally-known bands, and an annual horse show This spring celebration was a regular feature of campus life from the earliest days of the College For example, the 1910 entertainment included

a concert by the College’s Glee Club and Orchestra, Sterndale Bennett’s cantata “The May Queen,” and “A Legend of Bregenz, A Ballad for Females Voices and Piano,” music by Wilifred Ellington Bendall and lyrics from a poem by Adelaide Anne Proctor “A Legend of Bregenz” relates a tale of a young woman who saves her community from destruction through her personal bravery and determination

Photograph of May Court Members, 1929

The students pictured are Elizabeth Lankford [Miles], Eugenia Howard [Jones], Virginia Hodgson [Sutcliff], and Esther Tyler [Campbell] Lankford, Howard and Hodgson were all from Norfolk, Virginia Tyler was from Huntington, West Virginia All were members of the Class of 1929; Hodgson was class secretary

Newspaper Clipping, “May Day Discontinued,” Amherst New Era-Progress, 22 May 1969

In 1969 the student body voted to supplant May Day with other springtime social activities The horse show remains and programs such as spring formals and “spring fling” weekends have evolved

Case 6

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Selection of early postcards of the Sweet Briar College campus, ca 1910s-1920s

Middle Shelf

Baluster model for the Façade of Benedict Hall, painted wood, ca 1985